Disclaimer:

So a while back we ran auditions for Amaxing Fan Fiction Inc.'s new disclaimer writer, now that Skyler is (I swear) a character in this story.

Most of them were awful. However, we did manage to get two decent enough auditions to ask for a call back, so here's one now!

Call Back 1: Professor Oak

Out, out brief fanfic!

Max is but a walking shadow, a poor writer

that pens for a tale he does not own

and then gets no reviews. It is a tale

told out of loneliness, full of death and glory

accomplishing nothing.

I didn't know you read Shakespeare, Professor. Good one, you're still in the running!

Chapter 46: Rage and Camaraderie

Gardevoir

"So you see, we live in this point of history where us Pokemon are capable of doing pretty much everything humans can, but humans still find it mind-blowing and amazing. Which makes stuff like this some of the easiest cash anyone will ever make."

Medici, speaking in his native tongue, had taken me to the radio tower's square and set up in front of the building, his guitar resting on one knee and his case open in front of him. Even though he was only idly strumming at the moment, a few passersby had already stopped to watch and placed a few coins into the case. Incredibly silly, and part of me wanted to hand the money back to them... but both Medici and the passersby were radiating with joy, and I didn't want my awkwardness to dampen the feeling.

And because it's entertaining for everyone involved, it's panhandling and not begging, if I recall correctly?

"Absolutely! I'll also have you note the angle at which my guitar case is open." He gestured his head towards the case. "See how it's ajar, but not lying completely flat on the ground? It requires someone to purposefully bend down to place the money in, you see, rather than just toss a coin in out of pity. Details, but important ones."

I could have probably gotten a surface scan of his mind and seen whether or not he was making all this up on the spot or not... but I found myself having too much fun to care. And people were still throwing money his way, even though he hadn't begun to play anything yet! Sorry... bending down and shuffling money his way, not throwing. Silly me.

He strummed the three necks of his guitar in one fluid motion, then smiled at me. "So. I know you can't speak, but how are you with humming? If you were to start prettily muttering out 'Fly Me to the Moon', I feel like every heart and wallet in a two mile radius would melt."

I started going red immediately. Me, humming? In public, with all these people around? Perhaps it sounds like an innocent and simple enough thing to most but... well, as a Gardevoir I'd spent a lot of time receiving unwanted attention from people and Pokemon alike. To thrust myself into the public eye when people seemed happy enough to ignore me was the complete opposite of my usual instinct.

Medici sensed this, and I could feel the uncertainty start to oscillate back and forth inside his chest, a smile growing on his face and his voice softening. "It'll be fine, I swear. You'll be great."

I shook my head furiously, though the tightness in my chest began to loosen. I knew well enough he wasn't going to push the issue, and when I bit my lower lip he relented completely, tuning his guitar a bit more. "Well, alright. Maybe some other time, yeah? Thanks for coming out to watch anyways." I smiled and bowed my head, then took a seat on the ground next to him as he began to play properly, starting with... oh shoot, what video game is this from? Pretty song, either way, and with Medici's whistling to accompany it, people were already beginning to sway in the square.

Then the ground began to shake slightly, and from the corner of my eye I saw Dea... Dragonette bounding towards us, Shelligan, Qwill, and Inigo clinging to her back and balancing no less than fifty orders of noodles. "I know this guy!" she yelled out. "Right? He's that guy who helped me out but doesn't like me so I kind of don't like him. But he seems nice and since we're on the same team I should give him a chance, even though he's kind of a jerk sometimes."

"Yes, exactly that," Inigo commented as he jumping off the Skarmory's back and landing expertly, meeting my eyes for a moment. I shrunk back in embarrassment, even though it'd been over a month since our battle, there was still a lingering echo of spite on his emotional imprint. I'd left a deep mark. I hated that. "Though I do not know if I entirely agree that he is only a jerk some of the time."

"Well it's nice to see you too, sunshine." Medici grinned, shrugging off the insult with a crack of his neck. "Here I thought we were going to hug it out, finally come to terms with each other, all that good stuff. I almost died, you know?"

"Yes well, it was your own arrogance that led there so forgive me if I am not inclined to pity you." The Treecko took a single order of vegetarian noodles with him and walked a ways away, turning his back to us and staring off the side of the mountain.

Medici stroked his chin, keeping his guitar's rhythm going with his psychic powers. "Is he... even more distant and angry than usual? Or did I wake up with rose-colored glasses?"

"Axel scolded him. I'll fill you in on the details later." Shelligan always made me feel at ease. His very presence was uplifting, owing to how he was more positively charged than an electromagnet. He flipped off of Dragonette's back and landed, directing a grand bow towards me before racing up to Medici and embracing him. "It's good to see you again, Medici. I've been worried."

"Thanks Shelly. Missed you too, pal." Medici's eyes were actually watering, and he clung to the Squirtle for almost a full minute before letting go.

"Well then come on, let's see it. Spread nice and wide and let me have a look." Shelligan poked at Medici's chest playfully, and the Meditite groaned, spreading his arms out to show off the gash that now cut across his body. Shelligan whistled, running his blue fingers across the scar. "Now that, Medici, is going to give you a story to tell for ages to come. I'd consider it a gift."

"Whoooa. That thing's the entire length of your body, Medici!" Qwill was Qwill. I loved him to death for it. "And yeah ok maybe since you're only like two feet tall that's not a crazy big scar like some other Pokemon might have but if we're talking about scarred tissue per square inch then you've got top marks in like every exam ever which is kind of cool even though it's not the kind of exam you ever want to try taking in the first place because you had to get really really hurt first!"

"Qwill, as much as part of me finds you cute, another part of me wants to stomp you into the ground, so can you dial it back a little? I'm really, really trying to behave here even though I think it's a silly idea, even though it's not." It was the first time I'd heard Dragonette speak. I was shocked by how innocent she sounded. But also... how old.

"Dial what back, Draggy? Do you want me to stop rubbing into the crook of your neck because it's actually really comfortable despite you being made of metal or did you want me to stop kicking and twitching which is something I can't really control even though I've tried and I'm really sorry about it or did you want me to stop lighting the flame on my back because it's making you too warm? Because I thought that since it's getting so cold out these days you might enjoy having some extra heat since you've got so much exposed to the wind and the cold and you're made of metal so you chill quickly and..."

Dragonette groaned and slumped, resting her beak on the ground. "Can someone please get him off us? We're starting to get three migraines at once in here."

Medici furrowed his brow and glanced at me. "Are we... are we just going to ignore that? Not be concerned at all?"

"It's progress, Medici. It's all we can ask of her, isn't it?" Shelligan expertly vaulted up onto Dragonette's back again and coaxed Qwill on top of him, shuttling the Cyndaquil off of the steel bird and earning a sigh of thanks.

"I have no idea how you all deal with that kid if he's constantly like that. So high pitched and grating and droning and adorable and lively."

"Kid?" Medici laughed. "Awkwardly enough, I'm pretty sure Qwill's the oldest of all of us." He called over to the Cyndaquil, who was now bumping Inigo with the top of his head, no doubts in an attempt to cheer him up. "Didn't you turn ten a few months back, Qwill?"

"Yup yup yup! I've been with Axel since he was old enough to have a Pokemon of his own and yeah I was living with Amber for a while but I was still technically Axels Pokemon the whole time and he was ten back then and now he's twenty and so I'm ten years old! Yaaaaay!"

"You're ten years old and haven't evolved yet?" Dragonette's emotions had been fluctuating between terrifyingly violent, complacent, and peaceful, but as she grew more interested in conversation she seemed to stabilize. "What kind of training has Axe-man been doing with you?"

"Oh oh oh, don't worry about that, I can evolve anytime I want, see?" Qwill jumped into the air and began to glow brightly, then hit the ground and stopped. Then rolled onto his back and started to glow again, then kicked his little legs into the air and stopped. "Amber wants me to stay unevolved for as long as possible so I can learn super quickly and it's been really paying off for bunches because I can learn basically any move I see within a few minutes and if I were to evolve it might take me longer and then I couldn't learn Flash Cannon in the middle of battles and win Gym Badges so I don't evolve! Yaaay!"

I have to say that despite the coldness coming from Inigo, and the uncertainty Medici felt towards Dragonette, the camaraderie that the team had with one another... it was heart-warming. Shelligan used his shell to pass out orders of noodles to those who hadn't gotten any yet, Qwill immediately diving into his headfirst,hind legs squirming as he stuck out of the package, Medici casually psychicing some into his mouth as he continue playing, Dragonette... chomping down entire boxes in one bite and cooing loudly at how delicious it all was.

Why did my team never do this? I suppose Xatu like to spend time in her Pokeball and Gallant, despite his best efforts, was never the best socializer. It started to make me the slightest bit sad, despite all the joy in the air. I was never going to have this, was I?

Then Shelligan spun up to me, two orders of noodles or me to choose from on his shell. "Feel free to take both, dear," his voice echoed from within the shell. "It'll let me get out and enjoy mine faster." I stared for a moment, then took both packages, and the Squirtle popped open and stretched its limbs, sitting down next to me as it began to chow down.

"It's good to see you in one piece as well, I should add." He nudged the top of his head against my shoulder. "And I should say... what you did back there... for Medici..." He gulped as he remembered what he'd looked like. So did I. It was an image I was trying to forget every day. "Thank you," he whispered, his voice drowned out by the cheers of the crowd as the Meditite broke they steady rhythm of his guitar with a flamboyant solo. "He's become a dear friend. I thought I'd seen the last of him and then... well, I don't know how, but you worked a miracle. Thank Arceus you decided to join us."

I shook my head. Thank Helix. The Squirtle's eyes widened, his voice beginning to form words of curiosity. But before they could come out, a whirlwind of negative emotion caught my attention, and I shrunk a bit and looked for its source. Seeing it attached to Axel as he walked towards us, Amber in tow, was... odd, to say the least. Axel's emotional profile was often... flat, would be the best way to describe it I think, fluctuating a little here and there (especially when Vanna was teasing him), but for the most part remarkably steady. To feel him whipped up in such a storm of rage was out of place and frightening, and I immediately began to worry about what had happened.

"You... hey there you." He was addressing me directly. It might have been the first time. "Where's your trainer? I wanted to have a few words with her."

I shook my head, clutching my pad and pen to my chest. Sure, Vanna was probably somewhere near the bottom of Maxilla, but I couldn't send Axel her direction feeling like that. Axel narrowed his eyes, scratching at his left shoulder.

"You don't know? Really? I find that hard to believe, forgive me."

"Hey, to be fair, Axel, we don't know where you are half the time." Medici... you didn't need to cover for me. But thank you. "It's part of your charm as a trainer, to be honest."

Axel gazed at me for a few more seconds. "I suppose that's true enough, heh. Sorry for the sudden spotlight, Gardevoir." He turned towards Medici and I breathed a long sigh of relief, though kept it as silent as possible. "You." He pointed at Medici.

"Me?" Medici grinned.

"You're alive."

"So are you!"

"No duh I'm alive."

"Well no duh to you right back! Why would I be anything else?"

"You know very well... ah, whatever." Axel smiled, though the torrent of anger inside of him didn't ebb in the slightest. "Good to see you up and about. You ready to a battle? I met a guy who I want to completely wipe the floor with."

"Well that's something I never expected you to say." Medici pointed to his scar. "As much as I'm sure it's a noble cause, I think I'll have to sit this one out. Nurse Joy'll kill me if I overexert myself."

"She's not allowed to do that, is she?" Axel turned to Amber. "Isn't that against the hypocritical oath?"

"Hippocratic. Like Hippopotamus, remember?" Amber pulled Axel's arm. "Let him rest. Don't get him involved in your temper tantrum, yeah?"

"It's not a..." Axel growled, but a stern look from the redhead put him in place. "Whatever you say, boss." He whistled. "Qwill, Shelligan, Inigo. To me, we've got a lesson to teach."

Qwill happily bounded over to Axel and leaped onto his shoulder, nuzzling the boy's neck eagerly. Shelligan saluted and willingly collapsed into red light, returning to the Pokeball on Axel's belt. Inigo... he stood there, still not facing any of us.

"Inigo?" Axel cupped a hand over his mouth. "Inigo! Come on, let's go, we've got a battle to fight." Still nothing. I bit my lip, trembling as anger started to well up inside both the Treecko and its trainer. This wasn't going to end well at all. "Inigo... I know you can hear me, now..."

"I think he's still eating," Amber said quickly, flashing a glance over to Medici and nodding towards Inigo. "Why don't we get set up in the square, Axel? We've still got a little time."

Axel clenched his fist tightly, then nodded. "Alright. Good call, boss. Let's go." He stared at the back of Inigo's head for a moment, then looked to me. "Keep Medici and Dragonette company, ok? Please? And make sure nothing happens, uh... with her."

No problem, I wrote, slumping down in relaxation as the trainer turned and headed towards the tower. Medici set his guitar down and thought for a moment, then went over and poked the Treecko in the shoulder.

"Look, I don't know what happened and I don't care. But if you go with Axel and fight with him, I'll owe you one."

"You speak like that is worth something."

"Dude... just... come on, man. You're being a diva."

Inigo lashed out at Medici, who let the Treecko strike him across the face and send him sailing backwards. Dragonette cawed and started to get up, but Medici waved her down. Inigo stared at him for a moment, then ground his teeth together.

"I will go. As a samurai is meant to die for his master, so is a Pokemon meant to be a slave to its trainer." He ground his foot into the soul, then sprinted off, leaving the three of us behind, surrounded by empty take out bins.

This... was bad.

Author's Note

This started out as a brief scene before the battle and ended up long enough to merit its own chapter. I enjoy watching the characters bounce off against one another, and I hope you all do too.

Huge battle scene next chapter though, so your patience will be rewarded. Not sure who's perspective it's going to be yet, but I'm leaning towards Redwood.

Viva la feminism?